Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/5714357 (Como Loop)
Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/5714358 (Post Como)
With the threat of a storm coming today, we were fortunate enough to get TWO rides in and not just one. I have to say, I wasn't sure I was up for a second ride after doing Como, but S-G had a great showing at Como that he just couldn't pass up the chance to get more miles in. Greeeaaat! (sarcasm)
The first ride (Como) seemed a little small from the start, but team BRCM was represented by Gary, Seon, Jaffe, me and Vin (who picked up the ride from El Toro). We had three black jerseys, one red, and my white...i.e. a cornucopia of BRCM pride.
The ride started out as normal, but S-G and Jaffe pushed up to the front early on in the ride. I hung back toward the rear initially, but I moved toward the middle midway through. By the time we got to El Toro, I decided to make my way closer to the front. However, as I was making my way up, I see S-G pushing up the front and even pulling ahead creating a gap. Of course, I couldn't let him go up there all on his own, so I was pushing the front also. We had some pretty good pulls going up, but by the time we hit the peak before Cook's, I was a little worked and started getting passed. I ended up mid-pack again by the time we hit the climb.
I tried to catch the front group during the climb, and I was getting closer but just couldn't get it done. I actually started to run out of steam toward the top of that first crest where I got passed and couldn't latch on to those who passed me. By the time I went over, I was well ahead of others behind me but not nearly close enough to get to the front or first chase group. When I hit the 2nd crest, I was all alone.
I decided to make the best of it and just keep a good pace hoping to get picked up by another group. After a while, I hear Gary call out and tell me to get ready to jump on. Little did I expect that they would be in a paceline behind a scooter...but okay. I was able to accelerate and jump on as they passed, but the guy in front of me was having trouble sticking on. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to successfully pass him to latch on to the guy in front of him, so I hung back. Sure enough, he ended up popping us off the back. After, he and one other guy ended up working with me and rotating together until we could see Gary. Gary had hung on for a lot longer, but fell off after the incline. However, he didn't slow down at all and worked to keep us off of him for a good long distance.
When we finally caught him, one of the guys with us had popped off so there were three of us working together again. The next thing you know, Vin and another guy end up joining our pace after passing us up. Nice! We stayed together pretty much to dump, but Gary and one other guy had broken away at the start of the climb. I got in a rhythm where I was able to make some ground before the top, but not enough where they were about 15 feet ahead of me at the crest. They increased the gap on the downhill, but I was fortunate enough to run into them as they slowed for a light over the 261. I went ahead since I had momentum but Gary reeled me in and traded places up front with me a couple times.
When we got to Jamboree, Vin and the guy he caught us with (works at Allergen but I forgot his name), caught us and we all rode together up and over the hill. We were all working as best as we could rotating to the front and helping keep the pace up (except for one TruCycling guy who just stayed in the back). We did set up for a sprint near the end and when I took off, I thought others hadn't followed but Gary was getting ready to pass me just as we were coming up to the left turn on Irvine Blvd (yikes...S-G is back!). It was at this intersection where I met the guy from Allergan when he asked if we were the guys who writes the Broadcom blog. I guess more people read this than I thought. HA HA
When we got back to the BJ's parking lot, I was worked. Vin and Gary did awesome, and I was just glad to have made it. As I mentioned above though, Gary wanted more so he and I opted to do a reverse loop. Vin did the right thing and went home.
On our reverse loop, we decided to ride off the seat all the way from Irvine Blvd to the top of Jamboree. We kept hitting lights, but we would jump back out of the saddle from the go. When we started up the climb, Gary had a great pace and was holding it for the longest time breaking away from me. I was working on a good tempo and had stayed back from Gary for a while. It was only near the top that I started to make ground and eventually passed him, but he latched on and we made our way to the canyons.
On Dump, we both got back off the saddle and worked on our standing climb. I led for a while, but Gary got ahead just as we were going over the 261. I did make my way past him again, but this time, he was ready. He turned around and passed me again and held me off all the way to the top...off the seat. He pushed pretty hard where he did start to cramp at the top (I didn't know this until later). I passed him after the crest and soft pedaled down the hill waiting for him to catch me, but he was in recovery mode. I thought to go ahead and make my way to Silverado and kept ahead of Gary the whole time. He, however, maintained the gap where I didn't gain or lose much for the longest time.
After regrouping by Silverado, we started working together. The winds were pushing at this point and as I figured, working with Gary always make it that much more challenging. We both kept rotating pulls all the way up to the base of the climb. When I stood up to climb, I ended up breaking away for a bit but we both regrouped at the 2nd peak just before the downhill.
We worked together after we got past Cook's and kept the pace up all the way down toward Trabuco. Once we got on Trabuco, it was heaven. We could feel the wind behind us! The only problem was we kept hitting lights.
After we got past Alton, I made my way up to the front after Gary taking a strong pull and I was ready to use the tail wind. Then, I felt this real sharp pain on the inside of my left thigh...a bee sting! I tried not to slow down but I was cursing trying to make sure the stinger didn't stay in, and I didn't feel one. After the adrenaline kicked in, I used it to my advantage and just dropped lower and went for it. I ended up pulling away from Gary at one point and had averaged a couple of the miles on that section over 30 mph...one even 34. I was moving! I actually caught up to two older guys who had just pulled up to the light on Sand Canyon.
Gary wasn't far behind and we ended up getting back together and dropping the hammer again as we made our way to Jeffrey, Yale, and then Culver. After we went over the toll highway, Gary had tried to set me up for a sprint past me. This time, I was ready. I was able to hear him coming so I dropped even lower and just started to sprint and pull away. I can always count on Gary to give me a good run at the end when he's there.
62 miles for the day and we made it back probably about an hour before the storm. 21.5 mph average on Como and 18.3 for the reverse loop (which came with some medals on Strava for me). Overall, a great training day.
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